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What makes up your credit score. |
Discover how to improve your credit today !
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Consumer Credit News |
Home
equity lines of credit lose some of their appeal
Houston Chronicle - United States
NEW YORK - For Kim and James Merly, the home equity line of
credit came in handy -- it helped pay for their son's college
education, a car and renovations of ...
Poor credit rating can be
repaired
The Grand Rapids Press - Grand Rapids,MI,USA
... "More than likely, it's a poor credit rating,
nine times out of 10," VanDyken said. ... They don't tell
you they have poor credit.". ...
New hope for millions on credit
blacklists
Business Day - Johannesburg,South Africa
... some of SA's 3-million blacklisted debtors whose
negative debt profiles will be reviewed in terms of regulations to
be issued under the National Credit Bill. ...
Tips to keep your identity and avoid credit card fraud
Kansas.com - KS,USA
I get a lot of questions about identity theft and how to protect
yourself from fraudulent credit card charges. Identity
theft cases ...
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Inside Mortgage News |
Mortgage fraud probe nets lawyer
Atlanta Journal
Constitution (subscription) - GA,USA
... The case is one of "mortgage flipping," in which a house is
bought and quickly resold at an inflated price to obtain a
mortgage worth far more than the value ...
Fed warning buyers about
`non-traditional' mortgage
Miami
Herald - FL,USA
Federal Reserve governor Mark Olson urged US lenders to use care
with "non-traditional" types of home mortgages such as
interest-only and adjustable-rate loans ...
Is an interest only mortgage a good
or bad deal?
SouthCoastToday.com - New Bedford,MA,USA
By Robert J. Bruss, Inman News. DEAR BOB: What is an "interest
only" mortgage? We have a 4.875 percent adjustable-rate home loan,
but ... |
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FICO Scores are calculated from a lot of different credit data in your credit report. This data can be grouped into five categories as outlined below. The percentages in the chart reflect how important each of the categories is in determining your score.
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Improved Credit Scores Could Save
Billions
By
CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 21, 2005; Page D2
By taking small steps to improve their credit scores, consumers as a
group could save billions of dollars each year, according to a new
study that sheds light on the widespread confusion over credit
scoring.
The study, released yesterday by San Francisco-based card issuer
Providian Financial Corp., analyzed industry data on 352 million
credit-card accounts to determine the average daily balance, interest
rate and credit limit for a broad range of consumers across the
credit-score spectrum. Based on this information, the study found that
consumers could save an average of $76 annually on credit-card finance
charges -- or $16.4 billion in total -- by making a 30-point
improvement in their credit score.
The three-digit credit score, which typically ranges from 300 to 850,
is the most widely used measure of a person's credit risk. It has
little to do with income and everything to do with credit history.
Consumers with higher scores -- the current U.S. average is roughly
723 -- have an easier time securing low-interest loans and other
favorable terms on credit.
The best way to raise a credit score is to pay bills regularly and on
time, but there are other important considerations. Some of the most
common missteps that lower scores include maxing out credit cards or
home-equity lines, making only minimum monthly payments and shuffling
debt between different accounts.
Another important factor is the "balance-to-limit ratio," which
measures what percentage of available credit is being used. Lenders
like to see a credit utilization of under 60%, and consumer groups
recommend keeping it below 50% of available credit. If a consumer has
four credit cards with a $1,000 credit line each, for example,
carrying a total balance of less than $500 per card will likely keep a
credit score from declining.
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Archived Important News |
Experian settles free credit
report charges FTC accused
credit bureau of mislead
By Bob
Sullivan Technology correspondent MSNBC Updated: 5:43 p.m. ET Aug. 16,
2005
Credit bureau Experian has settled
charges that it misled consumers with the lure of a free credit report
and instead enrolled them in costly credit monitoring services, the
Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday.
Under the terms of the settlement,
Experian admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to give refunds to some
consumers and surrender $950,000 in what the FTC called “ill-gotten
gains.” In addition, Experian, one of the nation's three major credit
bureaus, has changed the way it advertises credit monitoring services
at ConsumerInfo.com and FreeCreditReport.com.
...click to read more
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